Unit 8: Section 2

Question 1

What is causing Global Warming?

Answer 1

• The Greenhouse Effect - Burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide that collects in the atmosphere, preventing the sun from getting out.
• Natural Climate Change - Warmest periods in the last 10,000 years happened before humans produced cartoon footprints.
• Solar Activity - The amount of radiation coming from the sun.

Question 2

What are the solutions to Global Warming?

Answer 2

• Create electricity in ways that do not produce carbon dioxide, e.g. solar power.
• Car manufacturers are using biodiesel and hydrogen to power cars without carbon emissions.
• Increased use of public transport.

Question 3

What are the causes of pollution?

Answer 3

• Acid Rain - Caused by high levels of carbon emissions, damaging buildings and forests.
• Human Waste - Sewage can cause major health problems if not dealt with properly and damage life on land that relies on water.
• Eutrophication - Caused by nitrates through fertilisers, and kills fish in streams/rivers.
• Radioactive Pollution - Nuclear waste can cause death, cancers and having genetically mutated children.

Question 4

What are the solutions to pollution?

Answer 4

• Acid Rain - Create electricity from wind/sun/tides.
• Human Waste - Recycle, and use incinerators to produce electricity.
• Eutrophication - Better sewage treatment, and reduce nitrates in farm fertilisers.
• Radioactive Pollution - Some nuclear waste can be reprocessed so that 97% of the waste can be reused.

Question 5

Why can human use of finite resources cause major problems?

Answer 5

• If the oil runs out, it would have a major effect on our lifestyles.
• Everything from car panels to kitchen appliances are made from finite resources.

Question 6

What solutions can we give to using finite resources?

Answer 6

• Use renewable resources to make electricity.
• Recycling will enable the lifetime of many finite resources to be extended.
• Scientists are working on using chemicals from plants to produce plastics.
• Car manufacturers are looking at water and sugar cane to power cars.

Question 7

What are the Christian teachings on stewardship?

Answer 7

• Christians were given the right to rule over the Earth by God in Genesis, but only as his stewards.
• Christians must treat animals/land kindly out of respect for Gods creation.
• Christians will be judged on wether they have been good stewards of Gods Earth.
• Christians have a responsibility to leave the Earth a better place than they found it, based on Jesus’ teachings.

Question 8

What are the Muslim teachings on stewardship?

Answer 8

• Muslims are Gods khalifas who have to look after the Earth for God how the Qur’an and the Shari’ah tells them too.
• They will be judged by God on how they have looked after the Earth.
• They should see this life as a test from God. A main part of this test is looking after the environment, and those who fail this test will be punished.

Question 9

How do beliefs about the environment effect the lives of Christians and Muslims?

Answer 9

• They should try to reduce pollution.
• They work to share the Earths resources and improve the standards of living in LIC’s.
• Help the work of groups that try to reduce pollution, and conserve natural resources.
• They should try to conserve animal and plant life.

Question 10

Why would some argue that following religious teaching on stewardship is futile?

Answer 10

• Only government action can deal with waste disposal.
• Religion might change peoples attitudes, but it won’t build wind farms.
• Recycling has to be organised on an international basis, which is difficult to do by religion.

Question 11

Why are infertility treatments important?

Answer 11

• 12.5% of couples in the UK have fertility problems.
• In 2007, 12% of UK births were as a result of fertility treatments.
• It is a part of human nature to want to raise a family, and if fertility treatments can help with this then they must be good.
• Psychological problems can be caused if couples are desperate to have children but cannot. Infertility treatments can prevent these from becoming mental illness’.

Question 12

What problems are there with infertility treatments?

Answer 12

• Expensive.
• No guarantees it will work, or work first time.
• Fertility drugs can cause uncomfortable side effects.
• It places the individuals and their relationship under a lot of strain.
• Using donor egg/sperm can be difficult for the infertile partner to come to terms with, and cause difficulty when bonding with a child who is not biologically theirs.

Question 13

What is the Roman Catholic view on infertility treatments?

Answer 13

• Only use methods which do not effect the sanctity of life and in which sex is natural.
• IVF involves fertilising several eggs and throwing some away, which is the same as abortion which is banned.
• All forms of surrogacy involve the sin of male masturbation.
• All forms of embryo technology separate fertilisation from sex, but God intended fertilisation to be a part of sex.
• Not everyone has a right to children because God may want them to adopt or do something other than have children.

Question 14

What is the Protestant view on infertility treatments?

Answer 14

• Allow IVF and AIH
• One of the purposes of a Christian marriage is to have children.
• The baby will be the biological child of the mother and father.
• The discarded embryos are not foetuses so life is not being taken.

Question 15

What fertility treatments do Muslims accept? Why?

Answer 15

• IVF and AIH
• The sperm and egg are from the husband and wife.
• All Muslims should have a family.
• The unused embryos are not foetuses so life is not being taken.

Question 16

What fertility treatments don’t Muslims accept? Why?

Answer 16

• Any other treatment except IVF and AIH
• Deny’s a child their right to know their natural parents.
• Egg/sperm donation is like adultery.
• They are the same as adoption which is banned in Islam.

Question 17

Why is transplant surgery important?

Answer 17

• It cures life threatening diseases and improves peoples lives (e.g. kidneys not working and giving sight to blind people).
• Transplants save 3000+ lives per year.
• More people need transplant surgery every year so they are essential.
• Gives people a chance to help others after death, by using organs which would otherwise be burned/buried.

Question 18

What are the problems with transplant surgery?

Answer 18

• Expensive, and only works for a small number of patients.
• Donor organs are scarce, and a black market for organs has developed in some countries.
• Rich people needing transplants will be tempted to buy from LIC’s.
• It raises questions of when a person is actually dead.
• Who gets the organ? The youngest person? The one who has waited the longest? The best tissue match?

Question 19

What do most Christians think about transplant surgery?

Answer 19

• They agree with transplant surgery, but not with organs being bought from poor people.
• Those who believe in immortality of the soul believe that the body is not needed after death.
• Those who believe in resurrection believe that God will not need the organs to raise the body.
• Leaving your organs is a way of loving your neighbour.
• The Bible says the poor should not be exploited.

Question 20

Why do some Christians agree with transplant surgery?

Answer 20

• They agree with transplants from living people, but not from dead people.
• Transplanting organs from the dead to the living is playing God which is a great sin.
• Organs such as the heart are an essential part of the person created by God.
• Donating your organs is a way of loving your neighbour.
• Paying for organs is exploiting the poor which is banned in the Bible.

Question 21

Why do some Christians not agree with transplant surgery?

Answer 21

• They do not agree with transplant surgery and do not carry donor cards at all.
• They believe it ignores the sanctity of life.
• They believe it is playing God which is a great sin.
• It raises the problem of when someone is dead.
• It takes resources from less expensive cures which could help more people than a single transplant.

Question 22

Why do most Muslims not agree with transplant surgery?

Answer 22

• The Shari’ah teaches that nothing should be removed from the body after death.
• It is playing God which is the greatest sin.
• The Qur’an teaches only God has the right to give/take life.
• It goes against Muslim beliefs on the sanctity of life.
• They believe they need all their organs for resurrection on the Last Day.

Question 23

Why do some Muslims allow transplants?

Answer 23

• Some Muslims allow transplants from close relatives.
• Some Muslim lawyers have said it is allowed.
• The Muslim Law Council of the UK says Muslims can carry donor cards and have transplants.
• Islam aims to do good and help people.